RIM back tracks on special deals

After claiming for months that it would not do special deals with foreign powers over the security of its Blackberry gadget, Research In Motion seems to be trying to work out a special deal with India.

The Blackberry is in danger of being switched off in India where the gear was used by terrorists as part of their attacks on Mumbai. But RIM was not going to back down at all in assuring that its users would be able to use their encrypted systems, right up until the moment it changed its mind.

Now Rim has bravely ran away from that position and Indian authorities of limited access to its Messenger services by September 1. It apparently is holding talks this week on giving access to enterprise mail, a government source said on Monday.

RIM faces an August 31 deadline to give Indian authorities the means to read e-mail and instant messages sent over the BlackBerry. It has not made an announcement itself. The news was leaked to Reuters by the Indian government.

"They have assured partial access to its messenger services by September 1 and agreed to provide full access by the end of the year," a senior government source said.